Goebel Farms provides pumpkin patch pleasures | GALLERY

Michael Doyle / Special to The Courier &amp; Press
Goebel Farms is open for the season with hayrides, a petting zoo, tractors, barn slide and play area and more than 100 varieties of pumpkins.

Jesse Buley giggled excitedly as he waddled his way around a mini-maze of pumpkins, some easily bigger than the 13-month-old boy himself.

While pumpkin-watching may not have been the most popular kid-oriented activity last weekend at Goebel Farms, the tyke's ebullient romp through a sea of orange perfectly sums up what harvest season is all about at Goebel Farms' pumpkin patch: family, tradition and a dazzlingly colorful variety of pumpkins, squash, Indian corn and other fall crops.

"I grew up here and this is where we came every year when I was a kid," said Jesse's mother Lesley Buley. "We live in Henderson now, but I come back here every year. This beautiful fall day just makes me want to pick up everything and move back here."

Larry and Susan Goebel began their pumpkin patch as a young couple in 1969 on their family farm, with the original intent of just helping to help pay bills. Originally selling pumpkins out of a wagon in the front yard of their home, the operation grew and grew over the years, becoming a central part of their family's life and the lives of so many other nearby families.

"It's just grown so much it's unbelievable," Susan Goebel said. "Every year we would try to add something new and it just built on itself.

"This has changed a lot," she continued. "Years ago, people would just come and pick out a pumpkin to carve, but these days it's as much about entertainment and having a fun outing with your family."

Activities for kids are many: hayrides, a petting zoo, a corn maze, a tractor ride. Inside the barn loft, rope swings and a long tube slide, with the latter attracting a seemingly endless stream of riders.

Leah and Jason Coomes of St. Wendell brought their three-year-old son Isaac and niece Avery Martin, 10.

"My favorite things were the rope climbing and the big slide," Avery said. "And the corn maze. I've done that before but it was fun."

Leah Coomes said going out to the farm had become a family tradition since her son was born.

"We mainly just come out to get pumpkins to carve," she said. "We really enjoy doing that every year. But there are lots of things for the kids to do. It's always fun."

Larry Goebel got his start in farming at an early age, growing Indian corn and pumpkins for hog feed on his family farm.

"I remember growing Indian corn in high school," he said. "We had this old Oldsmobile and we would fill it up with corn — the whole trunk, the back seat filled up to the roof and anywhere else we could fit it — and drive into Princeton and sell all of it. And I would do that once a week. I guess you could say this has all come a long way since then."

Susan Goebel estimates that the farm grows more than 100 different varieties of pumpkins and squash. While the standard orange pumpkin is the mainstay, new varieties are created all the time — white, yellow and green, striped and splotchy and every different shape and size.

"Different people like different things," she said, "But my favorite is the Cinderella pumpkin. They're kind of flat on the top and bottom so you can stack them up. A lot of people will see that and want three or four to display them like that at home."

The Goebels offer types such as the full moon, a white pumpkin that can grow as tall as four feet; the aptly-named blue moon; the green-striped Cushaw; the peanut pumpkin, known for its growths that resemble peanut shells; and a large variety of smaller pumpkins and winter squashes that are popular as decorative accents.

Goebel said his passion continues to be farming and always will, but says the fall season is his favorite time of year. The Goebels also grow Christmas trees and make their own apple cider, so the seasonal business extends long into the year.

A sign near the entrance is testament of their own family, with Larry and Susan gathered together with their own three sons and nine grandchildren.

"We love to see families coming here," he said. "Family is the whole point of all of this. It's so much fun getting to meet people and seeing kids that grew up coming here, who are now coming with their own kids. It's great."